A great persecution is coming to the holy remnant of saints.
Satan's ecumenical union of churches will bring about a great persecution. And the union itself will be the chief persecuting force. Even now, the Russian Orthodox Church is pressuring Russia's government to shut down all evangelical churches in that country. They want to drive out evangelical Christianity completely from their midst.
Here in America we see the beginnings of the same kind of pressure. I was handed a videotape of a network TV interview with a well-known evangelist. The interviewer asked the minister point blank: "Will Muslims be saved? And will Jews be saved if they don't believe in Jesus?"
Clearly, the evangelist was being pressed into a corner. He knew if he answered with Peter's statement, "There is no other name whereby men can be saved except Jesus Christ, the Son of God," he would have been despised. The press would have crucified him.
Instead, the evangelist was applauded for his answer: "Muslims love Jesus. And Jews have the Spirit of Jesus in them. Yes, they'll both be saved." I couldn't believe what I heard this committed Christian leader saying.
It's impossible to be accepted by the world if you take a stand on the divinity of Christ. You'll be shunned and rejected, made a target of mockery. On the other hand, any minister who's praised by the world and by other religions has compromised Christ's gospel. Such a person preaches another Jesus.
I believe the whole world will make this the defining question in the days ahead: "Do you believe in the exclusiveness of Jesus Christ? Are people going to hell because they don't believe he's the only way to salvation?" We'll be confronted with this by non-believing friends, coworkers, potential employers. They may not ask it in such literal terms, but the question will remain nonetheless. And if we take a stand, answering, "Yes, I believe Jesus alone can save," we'll be seen as religious bigots. We'll be mocked and persecuted as being politically incorrect and intolerant.
The Persecution of the true Church will be tremendous and universalist evangelicals coming up in the wake of this new age will be unwilling to defend the faith. They have already compromised themselves. The result is while for a little while It will look as if revival is here, in reality after the Devil has done his work, the churches that filled because of compromise will empty out. Nothing will hold them. Rather NO ONE. The only One being JESUS.
Look at this from Albert Mohler:
Over twenty years ago, Professor James Davison Hunter of the University of Virginia sounded a similar alarm in Evangelicalism: The Coming Generation. In that work, Hunter warned that the rising generation of younger evangelicals -- then mostly college age -- were increasingly uncomfortable with the claim that Jesus is the only Savior and that belief in Christ is necessary in order for a person to go to heaven. Now, those students are old enough to be parents and their influence is becoming more evident year by year. One can almost draw a straight line between Hunter's analysis of 1987 and the Pew report released today.We are in serious deep weeds. The devil is deceiving at light speed.
The last of this series, Prepare for Martyrdom at the Hands of "Christians".
1 comment:
If only Evangelicals were as concerned with dogma as with morality then we'd be able to dispute more succinctly with those outside the fold. We spend quite a bit of effort on moral and social matters without laying down our core convictions about truth. Morals and behavior have taken center stage and truth and dogma have been pushed into the prop room. I believe our primary contribution to the public square is found in what we believe, not how we behave. We need creeds before deeds.
Without question,our beliefs will put us on a collision course with the world in spite of our random acts of kindness and attempst at cool Christian rap. Understandably, some civil morality is called for in any socio-politico order. Inevitably some of Christ distinct claims upset that public civility. What Muslim, Mormon or Jew wants to be labeled a 'children of wrath' dispite their moral and religious efforts? Why the Lord's prayer in school? Why not the Shema or Salaat? Get my drift?
In the end Christ ministers must be willing to lose their place at the table of public discussion if it means keeping their place at the supper of the lamb.
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